3-inch gun rail.pdf

Statistics

Caliber: 3 inch (76.2mm)

Breech: Interrupted screw

Recoil: Hydro-spring

Rate of fire: 15 rounds per minute

Muzzle velocity: 1,700 feet per second

Maximum range: 8,500 yards

Effective range: 6,000 yards

Ammunition: Fixed shell

Weight: 2,520 pounds

3-inch Limber M1916

Ammunition for the M1902 gun was carried in limber chests mounted on either a limber or caisson.

The limber was designed to tow the gun and carried one limber chest. A caisson was slightly bigger and carried two limber chests containing the gun’s reserve ammunition. At first glance the limber and caisson for the M1902 field gun look very much like those used from the American Civil War through the Spanish-American War. While similar in many ways, the M1902 Limber and the updated M1916 displayed here, was very different than their nineteenth-century predecessors.

Except for its wooden wheels, the M1902 and M1916 limbers were of all-steel construction. The limber chest opened from the front rather than the top, and contained a steel grid with individual compartments for 70 fixed cartridges, each of which weighed 15 pounds. A fuse setter was mounted to the left front of the carriage for easy access. A fully equipped limber with a maximum load of ammuni-tion weighed 4,295 pounds. The limber, caisson and gun could be pulled by draft animals, tractor or truck, although horses and mules were primarily used for this purpose during the gun’s period of service.

3-inch M1902 Field Gun

During the Spanish-American War, United States cannon made out of iron fared poorly against Spanish forces operating steel cannon built by the Krupp factories in Germany. After the war, American firms began development of modern artillery pieces, while the U.S. purchased rights to a build a gun design from the Erhardt Company in Germany. This weapon would meet the army’s needs until American manufacturers developed alternatives.

After a few modifications of the German design, this artillery piece entered U.S. service as the 3-inch Model 1902 Field Gun. The new cannon featured a steel shield to protect the gunners from small arms fire, a steel breech, steel gun tube, and a recoil system that used a series of springs to absorb the recoil of the barrel when fired and return it automatically to its original position.

These features were the first of their kind for U.S. artillery. The steel manu-facture of the Model 1902 enabled the weapon to fire a fixed cartridge using a larger propellant charge, which in turn produced a higher muzzle velocity, greater range and superior accuracy.

The M1902 quickly became the standard field piece of the U.S. Army — including the artillery batteries of the Texas National Guard. Although the gun saw service in 1916 during the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, only a few were deployed overseas in World War I. The necessity to ship as many American troops to Europe as quickly as possible led the War Department to emphasize moving men rather than material. Therefore, almost all American artillery units on the Western Front were equipped with French-made guns.

Throughout the war, the M1902 was used as a training weapon — a role it continued until being replaced by more modern designs in the 1920s. The gun displayed here was manufactured at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1915.

Texas National Guard Artillerymen with their

3-inch gun on the Rio Grande during the

Punitive Expedition

3-inch M1902 Field Gun